American Idol Winner Fantasia Barrino Shows Suicide’s Not a Solution
by Maria Vitale
LifeNews.com Editor
August 23, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — An American Idol’s traumatic story demonstrates how despair can lead those who have everything to live for down a dangerous path.
In an interview with VH1’s “Behind the Music,” American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino provides details of her recent suicide attempt.
“I didn’t have any fight in me. I didn’t care about anything. I just wanted out,” the 26-year-old tells VH1.
Her manager, Brian Dickens, tells VH1: “She’d been crying all day. Fantasia was just numb. Fantasia texted me, saying ‘I love you.’ I wrote back, ‘I love you more.’ Then it hit me.
“I wrote, ‘You better not do anything or think about doing anything stupid.’” Ten minutes later, Fantasia texted back, “Already did.”
Dickens found the pop star on the floor of her room. She was ultimately hospitalized for overdosing on aspirin and a sleeping aid.
A nurse gave Fantasia the courage she needed to embrace life again. As she tells VH1, “My nurse Melanie was a blessing into my life because she didn’t tell me what I wanted to hear…She told me what I needed to hear. And she looked at me and said, ‘You gotta get up, and you’ve gotta get out of her, ‘cause you haven’t fulfilled your destiny.”
In today’s America, the pro-euthanasia movement stands at the ready, urging people who are facing difficult times to give up the fight. These activists enable depression to dictate death when, in fact, a desire to end it all is actually a cry for help. They allow the darkness of the present moment to obscure the beauty of life and the unrepeatable gift of the individual person.
People who are in pain—whether it be physical or emotional—need treatment, not a cold-hearted offer to end their lives. The medical community needs to redouble its efforts to alleviate the sting of pain, in all its forms.
There will always be less than ideal circumstances which cause people to question their very existence. In such cases, the support of family, friends, and medical professionals is absolutely critical as an antidote to despair. In situations where such support is lacking, the so-called “right to die” easily becomes the “duty to die.” Family and friends appear “burdened” by a loved one’s needs, and so the individual feels as if he or she has no other choice but to hasten death. In fact, the individual may not so much be choosing to end his or her own suffering, but trying to eliminate the “suffering” of those who should be providing aid and comfort.
Fantasia Barrino once chose life—when faced with an unexpected pregnancy. She chose life a second time at the urging of her nurse. May we all resolve to follow the example of that caring health care professional, and provide a ray of hope to those who might otherwise choose death.
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